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China has near clones of the F-35 Lightning, the Comanche stealth helicopter, the best of Russia's newest generation of tanks, etc. I purchased a Trijicon ACOG

China has near clones of the F-35 Lightning, the Comanche stealth helicopter, the best of Russia's newest generation of tanks, etc. I purchased a Trijicon ACOG clone from China for $136. It's just as good as, if not better than (doesn't require a battery for the chevron, and a battery powered chevron is, IMHO, not a good feature), the real thing, which costs civilians $1,400, and our military something like $800 each. I can't speak for the highest of the high tech, in terms of a "wind down", but I can assure you that $47B in China will get you a LOT more than $47B will in the US, and the lack of R&D costs is a big part of that.

mahranch 11y ago
> China has near clones of the F-35 Lightning, the Comanche stealth helicopter, the best of Russia's newest generation of tanks, etc. So they say. There's no way I'm taking China at their word. They're only slightly less full of it than North Korea. And according to the wikipedia page on the Shenyang J-31, it (at best) matches up with 4th generation fighters. Not the F35. They tried to copy it but their copy is only (maybe) as good as the previous 4th generation. Which is of little to no concern. Which is kinda that point. Their knock-offs are just that. Knock-offs. And none of those IP theft acquisitions have been recent. Their F35 theft supposedly happened nearly a decade ago.